Back to work: Junk e-mail network Rustok Botnet has woken from its slumber

Research has been released suggesting that the global decline in spam e-mails could be short-lived.

The network of infected computers known as The Rustok botnet used to produce spam mysteriously stopped sending out spam in early December, however security firm Netwitness have confirmed that the network began sending out the useless emails that we all hate earlier today.

It is reported that overall levels of global spam mail is still below levels of August 2010, as this is when the Rustok began gently declining the amount it was sending out.

The reason for the decline is unknown according to Alex Cox of Netwitness.

Those controlling Rustock do not appear to have made major strategic changes to their spamming campaigns, he added.

Some speculative theories have been received with Mr Cox suggesting “As best we can tell, they took a holiday, The people running Rustock are running a business – albeit an illegitimate one – so maybe they needed time off too.”

It has also been suggested that the lull was caused by the owners of botnet rented out the network to another group of spammers who perhaps didn’t have the work or investment required.

Security firm Symantec Hosted Services have also reported detecting Rustock’s return to working order. With research suggesting that the network sent out 67 billion junk e-mails today.

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